Built by a consortium of five contractors -- Limak, Kolin, Cengiz, Mapa and Kalyon, the project has been carried out through a build-operate-transfer model. It will provide over 26 billion euros ($30.65 billion) of revenue to the government.

Spread over an area of over 76 million square meters (818 square feet), the first phase of the airport will serve 90 million passengers.

Istanbul’s new airport ready to open

Phase one of Istanbul’s new airport with an annual capacity of 90 million passengers is ready for its official opening on Monday.The inauguration ceremony will take place on Republic Day, the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic, with the attendance of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and more than 50 foreign leaders, ministers, and high-level officials.The €6-billion ($7.2 billion) first stage, which was built in nearly three years through a public-private partnership model, is among a set of mega projects planned as part of a series of objectives for Turkey’s 2023 centennial.On Monday, two runways -- 3,750 and 4,100 meters long -- will go into service as a part of the first phase, including three separate airstrips.According to the IGA consortium, the contractor and operator of the project, over the next 10 years the new airport will reach an annual capacity of 200 million passengers with the completion of all four phases with six runways.Turkish airports welcomed nearly 164 million people between January and September this year, while over 31 percent of air passengers used Turkey’s busiest airport, Istanbul Ataturk Airport.Following the country’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines’ shift to the new airport by the end of this year, the Ataturk Airport campus will transition to other uses, such as training activities, aviation fairs, and civil use.At full capacity, Istanbul’s new airport is set to become a global aviation hub by hosting more than 100 airlines and flights to over 300 destinations around the world.

With the remaining phases to be completed by 2023, the airport is to sport six separate runways with a capacity of 500 aircraft, an annual 200 million passengers and open and closed carparks for 70,000 cars.

It will be home to the world’s largest duty-free shopping complex. The 53,000 square meter shopping complex will consist of six sections, including luxury stores and bazaar concepts.

The airport’s maiden voyage will be to Turkey’s capital Ankara on Oct. 31, with the first international flight to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus the following day. The first flight to Azerbaijan's capital Baku will be on Nov.8.

There will be also flights to the southern city of Antalya as of Nov. 1 and western city of Izmir as of Nov. 2.

It is expected that a daily 2,000 planes will go through the airport by the end of the year to over 350 destinations by over 250 carriers.